Political Economy of Globalization in South Asia

Session Submission Type: Virtual Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel explores how globalization reshapes domestic politics in South Asia. A surge of novel theoretical and empirical research explores South Asia's unique experience with global economic integration: rapid trade liberalization, out-migration to the Global North and Persian Gulf, growing foreign aid flows, and an influx of foreign direct investment. The papers on this panel use a political economy perspective to uncover the domestic political consequences of South Asia's globalization experience, but generate insights that apply far beyond. Gaikwad et al. conduct a first-of-its-kind field experiment in Northeast India to identify the consequences of international migration. Their innovative research design allows them to study precisely how international employment opportunities change individuals' political attitudes and behaviors in the Global South. Helms explores the effects of India's recent trade liberalization episodes on the success of nativist politics. Harnessing the expiration of the Multifiber Arrangement in 2005, he finds that trade liberalization reshapes internal population mobility, creating an anti-migrant backlash in contexts where internal migration is politically contentious. Ijaz analyzes the effects of foreign aid on compliance with public health orders in Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a survey experiment embedded in the roll-out of a foreign aid-funded payment program, she finds that while foreign aid does not alter individuals' assessment of government performance, recipients believe that their government is more credible in the reporting of COVID-19 cases. Rudra et al. offer one of the first rigorous analyses on if and how workers in developing countries actually experience the benefits of global economic integration. Using observational and experimental data, they find that formal workers in India support globalization far more than their informal counterparts, who are more skeptical of FDI's benefits. Together, the papers on this panel advance novel theoretical insights and harness sophisticated empirical strategies to provide a nuanced picture of globalization's political impacts in developing-country contexts.

Sub Unit

• Division 16: International Political Economy

Individual Presentations

• Political Consequences of South-South Migration: Evidence from a Field Experiment - Nikhar Gaikwad, Columbia University; Kolby Hanson, Naval War College; Aliz Toth, Stanford University

• International Trade Liberalization and Nativist Politics in India - Benjamin Clay Helms, University of Virginia

• Foreign Aid and Compliance with Public Health Orders: Evidence from Pakistan - Syeda ShahBano Ijaz, UC San Diego

• Who Supports Globalization and Why the Formal-Informal Worker Divide - Nita Rudra, Georgetown University; Helen V. Milner, Princeton University; Harish S.P., College of William & Mary

Chair

• Rikhil R Bhavnani University of Wisconsin, Madison

Discussants

• Rikhil R Bhavnani University of Wisconsin, Madison

• Pavithra Suryanarayan Johns Hopkins University